This invention relates generally to gaming chips or tokens, and more particularly to a novel token which is structurally reinforced by an internal web.
It is known in the field of gaming chips to produce a chip from molded plastic, and to mold portions of the chip sequentially and of contrasting colors to enhance aesthetics and interest by players. Gaming chips may also comprise molded indicia or areas of contrasting colored plastic that serve as decoration, to distinguish chip denomination and/or to identify a particular gaming establishment. Ideally, adjoining areas of contrasting colored plastic should present sharp, well-defined borders that do not slip or gap relative to one another during the life of the chip. Typically, plastic chips are formed from ABS plastic (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), which is relatively inexpensive and yields a hard, shiny structure. Chips made from ABS will produce a rattling or clinking noise when dropped upon a hard surface or among other chips.
Plastic gaming chips may be constructed to include one or more metallic coins, or coin-shaped metallic disks, surrounded by one or more annular plastic rings. Typically, the metallic disks are provided for decoration and to increase chip weight or heft. Plastic chips having augmented weight are often preferred by players and gaming establishments since they can replicate the heft of clay or clay filled composite chips which were originally in common use in casinos. Augmented weight has become even more important in recent years as the industry standard has increased from 8-10 grams to 11.5 grams, with chips having weights as high as 13.5 grams now entering the market. In general, greater chip weight is perceived by the consumer as superior.
Because of the metallic composition of the typical disk inserts, however, unequal expansion and contraction of the disk, relative to the surrounding plastic material, may occur during heating and cooling of the chip. Unequal expansion and contraction of chip components may cause slippage and gapping or other forms of separation between adjoining separately molded, plastic areas and, depending on the chip design, breakage and detachment of sections of the chip body.
Designs may be printed upon the plastic surfaces of a chip using a variety of processes including dye sublimation printing. Dye sublimation printing causes dye to penetrate the surface of a substrate so that the printed images are tightly bound within the substrate, present a minimal profile above the substrate surface, and are highly resistant to wear. When dye is heated during a sublimation transfer process, it vaporizes, and the vapors penetrate the adjacent substrate by approximately 0.002 in. to 0.25 in. If a chip is to be subjected to dye sublimation printing, it should be constructed of material that is capable of withstanding temperatures of approximately 280° F. to 420° F. necessary to vaporize the dye.
In the prior art, chips printed using dye sublimation have been molded from a single slug of polyester with no metal insert. The sublimation printing process has been used to print edge colors and face designs onto the single-part chips.
What is needed, therefore, is a means for providing an insert for stabilizing the chip elements relative to one another, and in particular a method of providing a metallic insert for a gaming chip or token that provides the required weight enhancement without inducing substantial stress within, and among, molded plastic token components during heating and cooling of the token.